Widening the Arachis hypogaea seed chemical composition: the case of a recombinant inbred lines introgressed with genes from three different wild species

Abstract

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important row crop rich in oil, protein, vitamins and othermicro-nutrients. The intensive selection of the cultigen, a cultivated plant deliberately alteredby humans through cultivation, has resulted in favourable changes in yield and biochemicalcomposition. Nevertheless, it has generated a narrow genetic basis that limits the developmentof new varieties with resistance to pests, diseases and environmental stresses. In this study, weaddress this limitation by characterizing the proximate and fatty acid composition of a multidisease-resistant interspecific recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from threewild Arachis species and a cultivated elite peanut line that is being used to widen the geneticbasis of the crop. The population was also genotyped with the Axiom Arachis 48K SNP arrayand used to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) for oil, protein content and oleic and linoleicfatty acid percentages. A wide range of proximate composition was found in the RIL population.Eighteen and 11 individuals had high oil and protein content, respectively, and noundesirable traits related to oil quality had been introduced into the population from wild species.The fatty acid composition of oleic and linoleic acids was found to be regulated by twomajor QTL. The discovery of markers within the major effect QTL for the most significantchemical traits provides new opportunities for the creation of resistant and extremely nutrient-dense peanut cultivars.